Why dont BOI or AIB do a visa debit card

shadowcomplex

Laser cards are so archaic, I mean Ulster bank and PTSB have one , why not the 2 biggest banks in the country?

theteal

iirc, boi have it in the pipeline

dod78

i think AIB are bring out a mastercard one soon

chris85

in the pipeline.

IngazZagni

Uh it has been a pain for me too. Laser is fairly useless outside Ireland and I hate credit cards. The sooner AIB release a VISA debit card the better.

dotsman

shadowcomplex wrote: »

Laser cards are so archaic, I mean Ulster bank and PTSB have one , why not the 2 biggest banks in the country?

dod78 wrote: »

i think AIB are bring out a mastercard one soon

Visa Debit definitely. Rollout in 2012 likely.

JTMan

I know BoI are doing Visa debit this year.

With AIB, is the above speculation or does anyone have hard information that they will ditch Laser?

daithijjj

shadowcomplex wrote: »

Laser cards are so archaic, I mean Ulster bank and PTSB have one , why not the 2 biggest banks in the country?

You have to love Ireland, only a quarter of a century behind our neighbours across the pond on this one. Although i believe those you mentioned have a vested interest in the laser card.

Vote with your feet, i left PTSB to go to Halifax for the card and then went to Ulster for it. (although ive had a DC since i was 18)

Having a laser is like having this nice cream nokia from '85.

dotsman

Fungus wrote: »

I know BoI are doing Visa debit this year.

With AIB, is the above speculation or does anyone have hard information that they will ditch Laser?

AIB moving to Visa Debit is definite, not speculation. The 2012 schedule is informed speculation. Ultimately, they won't make an official announcement until they have the schedule confirmed.

daithijjj wrote: »

You have to love Ireland, only a quarter of a century behind our neighbours across the pond on this one. Although i believe those you mentioned have a vested interest in the laser card.

Vote with your feet, i left PTSB to go to Halifax for the card and then went to Ulster for it. (although ive had a DC since i was 18)

Having a laser is like having this nice cream nokia from '85.

I can't understand this. How is laser "a quarter of a century behind our neighbours" or "archaic" as the OP put it. It is a perfectly modern debit card which works in the same way as Laser. The only difference is that while Visa Debit achieved global dominance (due to it coming from a company that is one half of a global duopoly - something which is a recipe for disaster), Laser/Maestro only achieved Irish (and European, to a degree) acceptance. They're both the same thing (ie an electronic debit card), and are inferior to credit cards.

daithijjj

dotsman wrote: »

AIB moving to Visa Debit is definite, not speculation. The 2012 schedule is informed speculation. Ultimately, they won't make an official announcement until they have the schedule confirmed.


I can't understand this. How is laser "a quarter of a century behind our neighbours" or "archaic" as the OP put it. It is a perfectly modern debit card which works in the same way as Laser. The only difference is that while Visa Debit achieved global dominance (due to it coming from a company that is one half of a global duopoly - something which is a recipe for disaster), Laser/Maestro only achieved Irish (and European, to a degree) acceptance. They're both the same thing (ie an electronic debit card), and are inferior to credit cards.

All i can say about that is from my experience, granted i travel alot and so does my family. We all live in Ireland at the moment and we all moved to visa debit as soon as the option was there.

Its pretty simple, and due to laser's lack of international and online usage and general 'pain in the arse' syndrome when trying to pay for stuff that gets turned down. The reasons for which im not interested in really, all i know is that i have never had one problem with visa debit/visa delta.

Cookie_Monster

because they have laser.

I was at a meeting with AIB recently and they said although it is planned to have it replace laser it will not happen short term, and will be a year or two. I can't remember the exact reason but they were still working out details with Visa on the merchant side of things.

f9710145

I remember having a visa debit card when I lived in france, 15 years ago, then came home and we were only beginning to introduce laser.

GavMan

Any one know if the BoI Rollout has started to happen yet? Due in 2nd half 2011

maximoose

dotsman wrote: »

I can't understand this. How is laser "a quarter of a century behind our neighbours" or "archaic" as the OP put it.

Because you cant use it online or outside of Ireland. I know some will argue you can use it abroad, but in my own personal experience it didn't work in various POS tried in 6 different countries in Europe. The vast majority of retailers dont take it abroad.

I remember getting my first visa debit card when I opened my first bank account at the age of 16 with Halifax in Northern Ireland. That was almost 9 years ago. Ireland took an awful long time to catch up.

Oh the joy when I got my PTSB Visa Debit in the post

Toots

Last update I was given is that it will be Autumn this year, so I'd say we should start to see it maybe in September, fingers crossed.

Tabnabs

I'm disappointed by the delay AIB, I had an AIB Debit Visa issued by their offshore bank in the 90s. Wonder if the hold up is Irish officialdom red tape?

BuffyBot

How would it be? The other banks (PTSB, Ulster and the late Halifax) have/had them. If AIB wanted to, they could have switched to Visa Debit years ago.

Paully D

This is the main reason I'm now switching to Ulster Bank.

Shlippery

Just switched to Ulster Bank today for it

LoGiE

So whats the difference between Visa Debt and Maestro? Maestro's a multi national debit card from Mastercard thats been on my ATM card along with laser for the last decade. Can someone give me a reason why I'd want to go the hassle of changing banks for Visa debit?

Shlippery

Well, my main attraction is for ordering online, nearly every site accepts VISA, but only a small few take Laser, which can be very annoying! And I'd rather a debit card, than a credit card

who is this

maximoose wrote: »

Because you cant use it online or outside of Ireland. I know some will argue you can use it abroad, but in my own personal experience it didn't work in various POS tried in 6 different countries in Europe. The vast majority of retailers dont take it abroad.

Never hard a problem in France with my Laser.

LoGiE wrote: »

So whats the difference between Visa Debt and Maestro? Maestro's a multi national debit card from Mastercard thats been on my ATM card along with laser for the last decade. Can someone give me a reason why I'd want to go the hassle of changing banks for Visa debit?

People really need to get this right. Maestro, although owned by Mastercard is not the Mastercard-equivalent of Visa Debit, and I really wish people would stop acting like Mastercard pretend it is (probably why you don't see the difference).

The Mastercard equivalent of Visa Debit, is Mastercard Debit, and (like a Visa Debit) functions like a credit card for nearly all purposes. Some British banks issue them instead of Visa Debit. My bank in France also issues Mastercard Debit.

Mastercard/Visa Debit are just different types of "cards" to their "credit" counterparts.

Maestro is a whole different system to Mastercard, and a system has to be explicitly designed to accept it. This isn't the case for MC/Visa Debit - if will accept the credit cards, it will accept the debit cards.

Like others have said online is a big disadvantage of Maestro. It's better for POS-usage, even internationally, but I'd be more confident of acceptance with a Mastercard/Visa Debit.

I also wonder why it is Mastercard is prepared to lose the business of virtually every Irish bank for debit cards. They will all ultimately abandon Laser/Maestro, yet they all seem to be switching to Visa. You would think Mastercard would try to switch them to MC Debit...

Stato x

I use my laser in a few countries on my travels and never found a place that wont take it in the last couple of years.
I dont understand the fuss here

shannon_tek

Debit
Laser
Credit Cards.

Wat da bloody kettle is da difference :pac:

I have one of each. and dont know the difference. my credit card is a pre pay so its the same as my Laser card which is now revoked and i got a new one which is a Debit card . Huh?

The Scientician

My laser only works in ATMs in the US and Wal-Mart of all the stores/restaurants I've tried using it.

The Scientician

shannon_tek wrote: »

Debit
Laser
Credit Cards.

Wat da bloody kettle is da difference :pac:

I have one of each. and dont know the difference. my credit card is a pre pay so its the same as my Laser card which is now revoked and i got a new one which is a Debit card . Huh?

Debit - is a card that takes money from your bank account
Laser - a form of Debit card
Credit Cards - accepted more universally than Laser internationally, money isn't taken directly from your bank account.

aoife1991

Toots* wrote: »

Last update I was given is that it will be Autumn this year, so I'd say we should start to see it maybe in September, fingers crossed.

Is this for AIB or BOI? I would love to be rid of my laser card, it's a right pain in the arse for online shopping!

DjFlin

Most online stores I try to buy from wont accept my AIB Laser card. So I switched to Ulster Bank, just for the Visa.

Sometimes I feel like Ireland are using HDDVD players, while the rest of the world are using their BluRays and laughing at us.

aoife1991

DjFlin wrote: »

Sometimes I feel like Ireland are using HDDVD players, while the rest of the world are using their BluRays and laughing at us.

I know exactly what you mean haha, seriously back arse country! play.com just accepted my laser card for the first time just there and I've been trying for the last 14 months so I'm quite happy with that. It would be great if they could roll out Visa Debit a bit faster as loads of sites seem to be accepting that now!

Red Hand

LoGiE wrote: »

So whats the difference between Visa Debt and Maestro? Maestro's a multi national debit card from Mastercard thats been on my ATM card along with laser for the last decade. Can someone give me a reason why I'd want to go the hassle of changing banks for Visa debit?

Maestro isn't accepted in the States outside of some ATMs and even then, not all support it. The way it is portrayed on it's site is that it is the debit card form of the Mastercard but it's not (which I found out to my horror when on holidays earlier this year). I tried it for a load of resterants/shops/motels but no go. Useless.

aoife1991

Jeremiah 16:1 wrote: »

Maestro isn't accepted in the States outside of some ATMs and even then, not all support it. The way it is portrayed on it's site is that it is the debit card form of the Mastercard but it's not (which I found out to my horror when on holidays earlier this year). I tried it for a load of resterants/shops/motels but no go. Useless.

Had the same problems while living in Hungary this summer... Big red head up on me when my card was rejected at the till while trying to pay for groceries!

Red Hand

aoife1991 wrote: »

Had the same problems while living in Hungary this summer... Big red head up on me when my card was rejected at the till while trying to pay for groceries!

Well, at least you weren't caught by the atm having an abnormally low limit of between 140 to 200 dollars a day.:pac: I was buggered coming and going...thank Christ I had my return flight paid for before I landed there.

aoife1991

Jeremiah 16:1 wrote: »

Well, at least you weren't caught by the atm having an abnormally low limit of between 140 to 200 dollars a day.:pac: I was buggered coming and going...thank Christ I had my return flight paid for before I landed there.

Was caught at a few atms alright.. Only the bigger chain ones recognised my laser as a maestro/cirrus/ whatever they use abroad... I'll be talking travellers cheques next year! :P

Chessala

Seriously? I've been to the US twice and never ever had a problem with my Maestro card on any ATM there. Mind you that this was around 4 years ago so I doubt they changed that. Granted it was a German Maestro card but that shouldn't make a difference.

Also, I left Germany 1 year ago and at that point 99% of German ppl (me included) didn't even know a Visa Debit Card exist. When my partner from Portugal tried to pay with a Visa Debit in one of the biggest electronic stores they wouldn't take it as, I quote, "don't accept credit cards".

So much for being behind HERE....

sitstill

My Laser/Maestro was never accepted in a store in the US but have used it in ATMs all over the country there, including in small local backs in Memphis and Santa Fe. But it did have a ridiculously low limit.

Ebola_Gray

Well, first, Irish Maestro cards are unlike other Maestro cards. They don't really work reliably online or outside of ROI.

I went the Neteller route for a debit card I can use anywhere. The main hassle with it is that it takes about 2-5 days to transfer money from your Irish bank account to your Neteller account.

Plus there are large fees for cash ATM withdrawals, but purchases are free.

Dum_Dum

Ebola_Gray wrote: »

They don't really work reliably online or outside of ROI.

This is deliberate.

HuD

Hi,
I've been with BoI for years but now I can't get a credit card from them. My last CC was Halifax who stopped trading. I want a Visa Debit card but BoI won't be issuing them till December. Fed up with Laser.
I'm thinking seriously about jumping ship to Ulster Bank. For any of you who've gone that route, is it all positive or were there any drawbacks?
All feedback appreciated.

daithijjj

HuD wrote: »

Hi,
I've been with BoI for years but now I can't get a credit card from them. My last CC was Halifax who stopped trading. I want a Visa Debit card but BoI won't be issuing them till December. Fed up with Laser.
I'm thinking seriously about jumping ship to Ulster Bank. For any of you who've gone that route, is it all positive or were there any drawbacks?
All feedback appreciated.

Opened an account (current plus saver in about 15 mins) in Ulster branch and had debit card in 7-10 working days. Ive had no issues since i opened it. Not one problem with debit card.

Dont bother with bank switch service, do it yourself if you can, thats the only way to guarantee it will be done right and quick in my opinion. My brother did the bank switch service, was at least 6 weeks to 2 months before it was sorted.

HuD

Hi, Thanks for that. Will probably go that route.

joseph brand

Maybe I missed something, but, has anyone answered the OP's question?

There are replies here explaining when they WILL be coming out. Not why they are not out already. Ulster Bank have debit cards a while now. Handy.

IMO AIB and BOI are a shower of thieves.

I'm with Ulster Bank. Grand, as banks go.

dotsman

joseph brand wrote: »

Maybe I missed something, but, has anyone answered the OP's question?

There are replies here explaining when they WILL be coming out. Not why they are not out already.

Why? It's pretty simple. There is very little benefit to them moving to Visa Debit, but a huge cost. Not only to the banks, but ultimately to the customer.

Secondly, the vast majority of their customers don't care as, for most customers, there is no difference between maestro and visa.

Now, maybe you think the irish banks are all fine and dandy with lots of cash to spare over the past few years, but ultimately, moving their debit cards from maestro to visa was not exactly the top priority for them, especially when it offered very little gain and would only have been a very short term implementation.

They are moving now as they are moving to contactless cards, which are far superior to the standard visa debit cards currently available. Will you or the OP be posting on here in a year's time asking why the other banks are so archaic and behind-the-times etc?

joseph brand wrote: »

IMO AIB and BOI are a shower of thieves.

Good for you.

jc84

HuD wrote: »

Hi,
I've been with BoI for years but now I can't get a credit card from them. My last CC was Halifax who stopped trading. I want a Visa Debit card but BoI won't be issuing them till December. Fed up with Laser.
I'm thinking seriously about jumping ship to Ulster Bank. For any of you who've gone that route, is it all positive or were there any drawbacks?
All feedback appreciated.

Ulster bank are great, had no issues opening the account and neVer had a problem with them, have a u first account so for 14 a month they insure my phone for free, an interest free overdraft.on the a/c plus a load of other benefits, considering I was paying 22 pm for phone insurance with O2 I'm actually saving money

sitstill

Does anyone know for sure when BOI plan to issue the Visa Debit cards?

finnteme

sitstill wrote: »

Does anyone know for sure when BOI plan to issue the Visa Debit cards?

We have BOI rep coming to work once a month, and i asked ab. that last week, and she told that they are starting issue the cards on november.

KathleenMcCabe

I was in a BoI branch a couple of days ago and the guy behind the counter said that they were bringing out a Visa debit card very soon - he didn't give a date though and in fairness, i didn't ask.